Something strange happened in Karachi on the 17th of July, Friday when it rained heavily in the metropolis city- it rained FISH IN KARACHI! Yes, you read this right. A video posted by a lady residing in the Clifton area of Karachi shows fish in her balcony and garden.
The Twitter user named Majida Malik shared a clip which is shown below. Majida said in her tweet;
“It rained fish in my house! Can someone explain what is this phenomenon? For context, I live almost 1 km from Karachi sea! #karachirain”
It rained fish in my house! Can someone explain what is this phenomenon.
For context, I live almost 1 km from Karachi sea! #karachirain pic.twitter.com/kSCGznMGhC— Majida Malik (@MajidaMalik) July 17, 2020
However, this is not the first time that an incident like this has occurred in the world, or even in Karachi. Similar incidents were previously reported in Malta in 2019, Sri Lanka back in 2014, and in 1861 in Singapore.
Here are a few possible explanations for this unusual happening:
Basically the fish is blown into land from nearby water bodies by strong winds. Scientists believe that this rare phenomenon occurs due to whirlwinds & tornadoes. A couple of yrs ago it happened in Mumbai & a few other countries & hundreds & thousands of fish was falling from sky pic.twitter.com/bNLqVNG8BT
— JB (@badnocs) July 17, 2020
Fish rain in Karachi 😳😳 🐟🐟🐟 ! is this true ???
Posted by All Pakistan Drama Page on Friday, July 17, 2020
So apparently, fish from nearby water bodies are sucked by extreme winds during the rain and thrown on to the land. Basically it’s not the fish rather the water from nearby lakes, ponds or sea that is sucked and blown by intense wind pressure (mostly by tornadoes and whirlwinds) and is thrown, along with whatever the water is carrying, on roads, nearby homes, etc.
A similar incident occurred in 2016 at Saadi Garden, as reported by Express Tribune. Children playing outside felt something fishy beneath their feet. They were ecstatic to find several small fish swimming in the puddles of water left by the rainfall the night earlier.
Every time it rained in that area, it brought one or two fish with it. Upon witnessing this unusual happening, the authorities tried to understand what must have caused this back then. One explanation for this was fish coming from the nearby Thado Dam.
Twitter was trending all day with the #Karachirain hashtag while the residents shared videos of traffic jams, roads overflowing with rainwater, people being electrocuted, building falling down and other incidents during rain in Karachi.
The monsoon season rain in Karachi is expected to continue for the next few days along with dust storms as stated by the Met Department.
List of Karachi areas where it rained heavily are: Bahadurabad, PECHS, Jamshed Road, Gulshan-e-Hadid, Soldier Bazaar, University Road, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Saddar, Abdullah Haroon Road, Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan-e-Johar, Clifton, Malir, Garden, Dhoraji and M.A. Jinnah Road.
2 people including a policeman died in the heavy downpour on Friday and cause major flooding and widespread power outages, reports Dawn News.
One word for this traffic police guy. #Respect #karachirain pic.twitter.com/xLT2IaHYiS
— Usama Qureshi (@UsamaQureshy) July 17, 2020
Residents and commuters returning from offices were stuck in heavy traffic jam on Shah ra e Faisal. Sindh Minister for Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah and Adviser to the Chief Minister Barrister Murtaza Wahab visited several areas to review the situation.
He said all district administrations were active throughout while cleaning storm-water process was ongoing continuously.
RIGHT NOW: Shara e Faisal road under heavy flood water at the moment as heavy rain lashes Karachi. #KarachiRain pic.twitter.com/YXIQcggcx9
— Voice Of Karachi (@VoK_021) July 17, 2020
According to Nasir Hussain, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s pumping stations were functioning constantly, and dewatering machines were installed at major spots.
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